school rules- Japan vs. USA

I had a pretty full day of classes today- 4 out of 5 class periods. In one of the 2 nen sei classes (American 8th grade), I talked about school rules in America. We made it into a true or false quiz that the students guessed the answers to, before I commented on each question. One of the questions was about sending students to the principals office if they are bad.

In Japan, students are never sent to the principals office or a disaplinarian. Actually it's illegal for a teacher to kick a student out of the class. Every student has a right to an education. Although the logic in that always made me wonder. Why does the one bad student have a right to an education while 36 more (who also have a right) have to put up with the bad student or listen to the teacher scold the bad kid for 50 minutes?

Anyway, I had to explain what constitues "bad" behavior. You see in Japan, it's not uncommon for students to talk, sleep, goof off, do their make-up, get changed (back out of gym clothes), or walk around during class time. I also told them about detention, suspentions, and how students can be left back a grade.

me: " For example, if you are a very bad student, next year you would not be a 3nen sei-- you would
be a 2 nen sei again."
students-
one student: "Kibishii desuyo!" That's strict!
me: "yes! yes it is. American students don't have to wear uniforms, can wear make-up, and accessories-- but they have to behave in class. It's very differnet than Japan"
Students-- silence and stares of awww.

I swear for the rest of class they were angels. I think I have to use that story about disaplin in America, in all of my classes. =)

The differences between schools here and America are very different. In Japan, everything is very group oriented. Students have to wear the school uniform, can't wear accessories, color or perm their hair, can't wear accessories or make up-- but behavior in the classroom always astonishes me. There is alittle they can't get away with, or if they do do something bad-- they just get nagged at for the rest of the class while the rest of the students just sit there. There is no detention or suspention and very little if any disaplinary system. I can't say I blaime the bad kids. Regardless of what they do, come graduation time-- they will still advance to the next level or graduate from junior high.

The only two motives for students to do well and behave is so that they can study hard so they can enter high school. There is an entry-exam system, so students must study hard if they want to get into a high school. Although I did here that some low level schools accept anyone. The other reason to behave is because the society is bases on unison, teamwork, conforming to the "norm," so standing out- in any means is considered a bad thing.

It's funny to think of how different I am personally than my co-workers and students. I've always wanted to stand out and do my own thing-- no matter how weird. There's nothing worse to me than being a cookie cutout, identical to all the rest and yet some how I've learned to tolarate this aspect of Japanese society.